This invention relates generally to the art of intravenous bags (IV-bags) and more specifically to devices for charging IV-bags with medications and the like.
IV-bags are used in large quantities in hospitals, clinics and other facilities where patients are being treated. In this regard, IV-bags are not only used for giving blood transfusions, but are also used extensively for providing nourishment and medications to patients. Regarding medications, they are often administered intravenously mixed in a saline or sugar carrier solution. It is important that many of these medications not be mixed with the carrier solutions in the IV-bags until immediately before the mixtures are to be "fed" into patients. Further, it is extremely important that IV-bags be charged with the correct medications for corresponding patients. That is, it would be extremely easy for nurses who would both prepare IV-bags and administer them to patients to become confused and administer the wrong medications to patients. Also, it is not a good idea to combine the medications with the IV-bags on hospital floors where conditions are less than sterile. Thus, most hospitals, especially larger hospitals, have found it to be beneficial for technicians to combine medications with IV-bags in sterile laboratories and then deliver these "combined bags", properly marked as to patients and medications, to the appropriate hospital rooms. A nurse then, upon administering an IV to a patient, checks the marked medication against the patient's chart and, if they correspond, she activates the medication so that it is only then mixed with the carrier solution, immediately before the IV is administered. Normally, medication vials are combined, or assembled, with IV-bags by screwing male-threaded necks of the medication vials into female-threaded mouths of the IV-bags, with sterile stoppers of the medication vials extending into the IV-bags. The medication vials are then left, thus attached, or screwed, to the IV-bags until they are to be used. In order to use an IV-bag with an attached medication vial, a nurse manipulates the flexible bag itself to cause a stopper remover in the bag to remove the stopper from the medication vial, with the stopper remover and stopper falling into the interior of the bag, thereby allowing the medication in the medication vial to enter into the IV-bag and mix with a carrier solution therein.
Although the above described system functions quite well, it has been found that it is extremely burdensome for and dangerous to technicians who must assemble the medication vials with the IV-bag. In this regard, often hundreds of medication vials are combined with IV-bags daily, thereby requiring many repetitions of screwing male threads on necks of medication vials into female threads on mouths of IV-bags. When these two members are being screwed together, the stopper remover is simultaneously screwed into an opening of the stopper. Thus, the screwing action involves overcoming much friction and, therefore, requires the expenditure of quite a bit of effort. Not only is this procedure unduly slow and burdensome for the technicians, it is also not accurate and increases the risk of getting a wrist abnormality known as "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome".
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a tool and method for attaching medication vials to IV-bags which is fast, not unduly burdensome, and does not increase the risk of getting carpal tunnel syndrome. Similarly, it is an object of this invention to provide a tool and method for attaching medication vials to IV-bags which is not unduly expensive.